and coming to fine establishments near you.

Events

Beer

Beer is our muse. It’s how we express who we are and what we’re about. For us, fun is teasing out a bit of the unexpected—in ingredients, form and flavors. Some of them you’ll love, some you’ll like. But all, you’ll remember.

At least that’s the goal: We make the beer; you make the memories.

Gatecrasher

English IPA (6.6% ABV)

[Year Round]

Gatecrasher gets into the sold-out show without a ticket. It doesn’t have to shout for people to listen. It arrives fashionably late but closes the place down. Our India Pale Ale stands apart from the bitter crowd and entices with bountiful aromatic hops and a touch of malt sweetness, proving there’s more than one way to crash a gate.

Smittytown

ESB (5.8% ABV)

[Year Round]

An unreal Extra Special Bitter brewed with refined English malts then bastardized with brazen American hops for celebrating a neighborhood that doesn’t exist.

Restless Years

Rye Pale Ale (5.8% ABV)

[Year Round]

This crisp pale ale spices things up with rye in the mash. Dry-hopping lends a refreshing tropical aroma. The unexpected spicy finish lingers like a favorite memory. It will turn your restless nights to restless years.

Evenfall

Imperial Red Ale (8.0% ABV)

[Seasonal: Spring – Fall]

Day transitions to night at Evenfall when hazy reddish hues color the sky. With caramel malt balanced by hop bitterness and a touch of wheat, Evenfall Imperial Red is neither light nor dark but the transition in between.

Greenwood Beach

Blonde Ale with Pineapple (4.0% ABV)

[Seasonal: Summer]

Swimsuits on fences. Chances taken. Summer belongs to the carefree and the courageous. Greenwood Beach Blonde ale embraces summer with a bold addition of pineapple. It’s a beer for the opportunities you don’t pass up.

Escapist (formerly Escape Artist)

American IPA (6.7% ABV)

[Occasional]

Getting into the party is one thing. Getting out when the time is right is another. Our American IPA comes on strong with four types of aromatic hops and the right amount of bittering, then smoothly makes its way to the exit, lingering only in your memories.

Birdsong

Saison with Honey (6.3% ABV)

[Seasonal: Spring – Fall]

As days are filled with more light than darkness, life moves outside. Birdsong prods you to move with it. With its peppery sweetness and refreshing acidity, Birdsong celebrates the warmer months full of sunshine and a little spice.

Might Meets Right (Coffee)

Imperial Stout with Coffee (9.0% ABV)

[Extremely Limited]

Some think that might makes right. But it’s the troublemakers—the ones who speak truth to power—who make history. Our imperial stout is the stone in your slingshot. It’s our take on a powerful style, using a balance of rich malt, roast, and coffee that makes this mighty beer just right. Let’s make some history together.

Threeway

American IPA (6.2% ABV)

[Occasional]

Sometimes you want to go it alone. But beer is better with a friend or two. We got together with Union & Space for an Evanston-only release that celebrates spontaneity, creativity, and fun with friends. A Threeway is only available at the Tap Room, Union, and Space.

Root Down

Robust Porter (5.2% ABV)

[Seasonal: Fall – Spring]

We all have a history—roots. It’s great to embrace the past, but you can’t live there. Smooth and endlessly drinkable, this robust porter, brewed with chicory and licorice roots and tinged with a touch of smoked malt, reinterprets its roots.

Freedive

India Black Ale (6.0% ABV)

[Seasonal: Winter – Spring]

Days shorten and cold permeates everything, but the darkest time of the year also offers its treasures. Take Freedive, our India Black Ale. Freedive’s midnight color and roasty malt character belie its piney hop aroma, creating an unexpected combination. Freedive is a beer for winter, and like the snow and solitude, it will be gone before you realize.

Smittytown Tart

ESB with Balaton Cherries (6.5% ABV)

[Seasonal: Fall – Spring]

Smittytown has a visitor, but she won’t be here forever. We lay our ESB down with Balaton tart cherries, giving Smittytown a reddish hue and slight pucker. Raise a glass of this transient beer now and toast the opportunities you don’t pass up, because she won’t be back for another year.

Barrel-Aged Root Down (FEW Rye)

Robust Porter (6.5% ABV)

[Once and Done]

To celebrate our first year, we teamed up with fellow Evanston alcohol-producer FEW Spirits to create something unique to our hometown: a barrel-aged dark beer that’s not high alcohol. Mellow, rounded vanilla notes mix with a touch of chicory and chocolate, enveloped in the unmistakable rye whiskey. Only 150 gallons made.

Singing at Trees

American Amber (6.0% ABV)

[Once and Done]

For the 2014 ReplicAle project, we brewed an interpretation of an American Amber. Delicately dry-hopped and crisp with malt undertones, Singing at Trees is a beer for celebrating (or singing at!) the change from summer green to fall brilliance.

For information on where to find our beer near you, contact info@temperancebeer.com or check out beermenus.com

About Us

It’s taken almost one hundred years, but Evanston can once again call itself home to a Temperance movement. But this time there’s beer. In fact, this one is all about the beer. Aside from that tiny detail, Temperance has always been about making life better in ways big and small. We think that’s a worthy goal, and one that only comes about by being open to the possibilities. It’s something we think about with the beers we brew and the things we do. (And when you join us, you will too.)

Welcome to a new Temperance movement.

Temperance Beer Company.

Josh Gilbert

Founder

You may not think the journey from architect to brewery founder would be a straight line, but it made perfect sense to Josh. Tired of never-ending projects, real estate bubbles, and low pay, he traded in his blueprints for never-ending recipe conversations, intoxicating bubbles, and low pay. Josh dreamed of brewing his own beer since college but somehow never found the time (until the housing market made time). He enjoys life best when sharing what he enjoys best in life, whether seasonal mixtapes, charcuterie, mixed drinks, or now beer. And Evanston, the city where Josh grew up, was an ideal place to launch a new kind of Temperance Movement. Yes, one with beer.

Claudia Jendron

Brewster

Claudia gave up living on the beach as a marine biologist to chase her love of beer. Like her grandfather before her, Claudia started as a home brewer, so technically beer is in her genes. And these days it’s in her hair, clothes, boots (you get the picture). After leaving marine biology, Claudia brought her knowledge of South Carolina tidal inlets, oysters, and sturgeon to Goose Island, where she got her start in commercial brewing, barrel-filling, and cellaring. Countless 14-hour days later, Claudia is running brewery operations at Temperance. In developing our beers, her goal is to explore the possibilities and potential of each hop variety, yeast strain, malt, and unexpected additions to make each time out with Temperance beer one you’ll remember and appreciate.

The Tap Room

Our Tap Room is a place where everyone can feel comfortable to enjoy our beer at its freshest. Most of our beer is available in flights of 4 ounce tasters, half pints, and pints. We sell 64 ounce growlers as well. You can bring growlers back into the tap room to be refilled. Please clean thoroughly! (We do not accept returns for deposits.)

We are not a brewpub, but we offer pasties from Peckish Pig and gourmet snacks from Bee’s Knees & Popcorn Asylum. You are welcome to bring your own food (BYOF) or order in. We have menus from local restaurants behind the bar.

Kids are welcome, though at a certain point in the evening, it won’t make sense for them to be out at a tap room. Some folks have been unsure when that might be. It’s 8:30 PM.

After 8:30 PM, the Tap Room is 21+ ONLY.

We are located at 2000 Dempster St in Evanston, which is about a block west of Dodge on the south side of Dempster. It’s a little tricky finding us, especially in the dark. So there’s a map below showing where you turn off Dempster into our lot.